1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to measuring biometric information from a collected sample.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods of measuring biometric information from a sample collected from a body have been continuously developed. Urine or blood may be collected to be used as a sample, however, with the constant development of such methods, a method of measuring biometric information regarding, for example, diabetes from a sweat or tear sample has been developed. Also, a method of measuring biometric information from a sample collected from saliva or an exhaled breath has been developed.
According to a method of measuring biometric information from a sample, biometric information may be measured via a qualitative analysis of determining a positive or a negative reaction by checking with the naked eye a reaction result of urine with respect to a reagent on a urine diagnostic strip.
With regard to measuring biometric information, many reagent reactions are used for diagnosing various diseases. In addition, not only a qualitative analysis of a positive/negative reaction, but also a quantitative analysis of determining a disease status via a measured numerical value is used.
Various types of information, such as a diabetes level, an acid level (pH), and a protein level, may be obtained via reaction tests using urine and/or blood, but measuring devices used in this regard are provided according to types of information to be measured. Also, the measuring devices have medium and large sizes, are expensive, and require specialized knowledge to be used, and thus are limited to use by experts, such as medics and medical technologists.
Accordingly, home or portable measuring devices that may be easily used by ordinary people have been actively developed, and methods of measuring biometric information by inputting sample information to a portable terminal, such as a smart phone, have been studied.
A technology of analyzing a strip on which a sample is collected through an optical image sensor, such as a camera, included in a terminal has been developed in detail. Also, to accurately analyze a reaction of the sample and a reagent pad attached to the strip, a method of obtaining an accurate discoloration level of the reagent pad by analyzing and calibrating the discoloration level has been actively studied.
However, calibration may not be accurately performed by using a method of comparing a discoloration value with standard color codes to calibrate the discoloration level of the reagent pad because a color may be differently displayed based on lighting of a place where the sample is measured. For example, when the sample is measured in a dark place or a shadow of a user accessing the terminal covers the strip, a camera sensor may wrongly recognize the discoloration value.
Also, when a temperature of a reagent is considerably different from room temperature where the measuring is performed, a quantitative value of a quantitative reaction according to the temperature may be calibrated. Also, when the reagent is sensitive to temperature, i.e., when the discoloration level largely varies with temperature, quantitative value calibration according to temperature is necessary.
Accordingly, calibrating methods for reducing various errors that may be generated under various measuring environments and methods of deriving accurate results by calibrating a quantitative value according to brightness in a reagent reaction are being developed.